TEHRAN, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Iran could open another battlefront against the United States in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait if Washington seeks "stupid" actions on the ground to open the Strait of Hormuz, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday.
"If the enemy seeks to take any action on the ground in Iranian islands or any other location in our lands, or inflict any cost on Iran through naval movements in the Persian Gulf and Sea of Oman, we will open other battlefronts against it as a surprise so that its actions will not only fail to be beneficial, but will also double its costs," Tasnim quoted a military source as saying.
The source said, "We constantly monitor the preparations in and developments of the enemy's front and keep them under surveillance."
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is among the world's strategic waterways, and Iran has the will and capability to produce completely credible threats against it, the source added.
The developments come as Pentagon is reportedly expected to send thousands of soldiers from the U.S. Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East.
On Feb. 28, Israel and the United States launched joint attacks on Tehran and several other Iranian cities, killing Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, along with senior military commanders and civilians. Iran responded by launching waves of missile and drone strikes targeting Israel and U.S. bases and assets in the Middle East.
Iran also exercised tight control over the Strait of Hormuz by denying safe passage to vessels belonging to or affiliated with Israel and the United States. ■
